Fun and Easy Easter Egg Centers

Okay, who doesn’t love centers you can make with the tons of cheap Easter eggs you can gobble up at the dollar store? Let me tell you, making these centers is super easy… and the fact that they’re so interactive as you manipulate and learn makes them the perfect addition to any classroom even if it’s not Easter time!

On my last go-round of making these centers and using them in the classroom, I kept several of them well past the Easter holiday including some of the ones for math. In the classroom, my students really love the word family eggs and a couple of the other egg matching centers.

I guess the point is, even if you are using these Easter egg centers as a seasonal holiday activity, you may want to think about how you can integrate them throughout the entire year. Besides, how many centers can you get for the low price of a dollar and a Sharpie? On a teacher salary, that’s just about the greatest thing!

Easy English Easter Egg Centers

Okay… I know you are already thinking about stopping at the dollar store on your way home. I hope you have your hide-a-twenty ready because, literally, the number of centers you can set up in just one night with your favorite Sharpie is ridonkulous!

So let’s dive right into some English/Language Arts centers.

Upper-Lower Case Letter Match
There are so many activities you can print and laminate or copy a class set to get going, but here, with just a couple of dollars worth of easter eggs, you can set up this center. Write the upper letters on the tops and the lower case letters on the bottom. To make sure you don’t give too much away with the color of the eggs, so take them all apart and then label them without any rhyme or reasoning to it (see, makin’ it easier for ya already)!
Sight Word Match
Reinforcing sight words and finding interesting and authentic ways for students to practice identification and recall is always a challenge… especially if you are in a self-contained unit or working with students who need a lot of repetition. In this simple set up, you’ll just write a target sight word on the upper and lower parts of the egg. Again, you can mix up the colors to not make it too easy. If you are looking to ramp this up a bit because of the level of your students or you’ve been at this kind of center for awhile and want to take it up a notch, you can have students match sight words to their synonym or antonym. What a great way to gauge vocabulary comprehension!

Rhyming Pairs
Reinforcing phonic skills with rhymes is a cornerstone of good literacy instruction, so adding a rhyming pairs activity like this one is a great little way to make a meaningful literacy center for your classroom. If you are an artist, then rock those skills and draw some pictures for the pairs. If you are not, like me, then words will work just fine. Need some ideas for rhyming pairs to start with, then click here for more.
Word Family Spinner
Onset and rhymes are a great follow up for the phonic skills you taught above. Here you will just write 5 or so letters (stick with consonants) on the big end and several word families on the smaller one- use 3-4 word families and maybe stick with ones that are based on the same vowel sound (like sticking with i on a single egg with -ike, -in, ig, -it). I love these spinners and used them all year long with my small reading groups. I had students spin and when they found a word that was a real word, they would write it on their paper.
Compound Word Maker
This one is easy too (you can set it up as you binge watch your favorite TV show)- just take some compound words, split them on the two eggs halves, and mix them up. You, again, want to mix the colors so you don’t help the kiddos out too much. You can also add a notebook or writing component to this- when they find the match, then write it down!

Easy Math Easter Egg Centers

I know you loved the easy Easter egg centers for English, but the math ones are even better! And we always need some independent places to pop students off to when we’re working on small group direct instruction or remediation groups. With a few of these in place, you can legitimately make that happen. So, bust out that Sharpie once again…

Sort By Even and Odd
Okay, so as a basic center, you can just set out a couple of buckets and label them even and odd. Students can then sort them eggs with a number written on them (get the smaller ones so you can get more at the center). Or… if you want to make it more difficult, then put a number on each end and, when the students put them together, they will add them and then determine if it is even or odd before they sort it from there. If you have both options available, then it is an easily differentiated activity.
Shape Match
Feeling like an artist? Yeah, I usually end up throwing out a couple of ends I really foul up as I am setting these up. Once done, and proud of my inner Michelangelo, I feel like I have a great little center for students working on some basic skills or even that I can add into my vocational rotation. All you do is draw shapes on each end that students can match. Don’t forget to mix the colors up to mix things up a bit… or you can keep the variety of shapes to a minimum and allow the shapes to match so students have to get the color-shape combo matched correctly. Yay!

Make Ten
Student will match egg halves that equal ten… easy peasy! And working on these math facts really builds on some skills that students need as they advance. As a little twist, you can also write the make ten number sentence with a ten frame with the math fact represented in two colors (whoa… gotta bust out a backup Sharpie, sorry). I love this option and had to do it in my class to challenge my upper level students who needed that next level egg-cercises!I know, I couldn’t help it. No more egg jokes, promise.
Fraction Matching
There are actually a couple of different ways you can make this center activity. You can have students match a fraction (like 1/2, 1/4, or 2/3) with either a decimal point or an image of the fraction. This is a great way for students to start to relate fractions in their many forms. You can use this when you initially teach the concept to make the idea more visual and then reinforce it with a center. And, if you are in a self contained classroom like me, this makes a great addition to a work system!
Measurement Equivalents
I can tell you right now, I had to study to get all these eggs together. Once I had them, I added them to my science rotation as part of functional cooking lessons. And, as an aside, I can totally half recipes in my own kitchen now! All you have to do is put together some basic measurement equivalents (like 1 foot = 12 inches) and set this little matching station to work.
Equivalent Sums
Speaking of making equivalents, you can build on some math fact skills by having students match two egg halves that equal the same amount. Awesome pre-algebra skills with all the equivalent equations and such. And with all the halves you’ll put in this center, it is really a great way for your students to get lots of practice- and have more fun than with a worksheet.
Math Facts
Yup, straight up math facts are always a great activity to be a reinforcer of skills as you build them. You can always start with some basics but also make these harder too. Either way, put the equation on one end and the sum, difference, or product on the other. See, you can really make these dynamic! A set of multiplication facts for your early finishers may give them the rigor they need… or a set of basic addition facts can be a remediation activity for students who are skill struggling. Suddenly all of that differentiation is easy!

Oh… and if you are looking for more math center activities that are TOTALLY free, then check out this post HERE!

Easy Social Studies Easter Egg Centers

So I totally feel obligated to mention some non-ELA/Math easy Easter egg centers too. If you are looking for a center to spice up your social studies block, then try these:

States and Abbreviation
Yeah, if you aren’t from MO, then you may forget that MO is not for MT and that MD is a place and a doctor… so write the abbreviation on one half and the state name on the other. This is a great little center, but you may want to add a map with the state and abbreviations to use as a reference.
States and Capitals
Just as we did above, you can add a state and capitals version to your egg-cellent social studies egg centers too. Again, you may need a map to use as a reference as students work through the activity, which will also reinforce their geography skills. Double whammy, teacher win!
Sticker Match
Okay, this one is a stretch, but if you have made it this far then I know you have a crap load of easy Easter egg centers to choose from for your classroom. If you are already in your car, halfway to the closest dollar store, then pick yourself up a set of stickers while you’re at it. You can stick a few to each end of the eggs to make a matching activity. Lookie there, you don’t even need to grab that Sharpie to get some centers rolling.

Easy Easter Egg Centers

So there you have it… 15 easy Easter egg centers you can make while binge watching this weekend, so head over to the nearest dollar tree and get a few packs to get started! Do you have some other ways to make Easter eggs your best friend? Drop them in the comments ‘cause who doesn’t love extra classroom centers?